Eouao.
Molucca»
Proper. ;
and it is probable that the clove* and perhaps the nutmeg, defy, la the
mountain recefles,- the vfrild avaSice of man, . : , ; y , ; *' •
Of the other large iflands Bakian, or. Batchian, will be defenbed
with the Moluccas ftridly fa called. Of M o r t .a y , M y s o l , f ty f a » 1»
-or Miehoal,) andjOoBi little is known. -lVIortayVis a beautiful ifle. but
thinly inhabited, ■ though -full o f -% o wees, whifch are e ^ b y j h e
people of Gilolo ; and is fobjeti: to , the king ©f T.etnaU# b®ngi a
Angularity in the Qnt?atal. archipelago that.finall ifles have b.5^1 fctjte-
tinaes fele&ed for the feats of monarchy»-,being generally more,civilized
by th^edhcentration offociety, than the large» Qver vfJpcWde tribes
are thinly dif^srfed.'. Mysoj^ moft eaftern of this groqp,. U of
a triangular fliape, with a bold Ihore. The. villages are M t . i n ^he
water upon pofts ; and there are piaurefque foreft*,yifited by the.birds
©fparadife, which feem to migrate from Papua, and are caught ia-dpn-
fiderabie: numbers. Thefe romantic and beautiful birds, f i r ^ r belong. to
Papua, or New Guinea, but their flight extends.over moft of,the,Spice
Illands, where they always defeend-as from.heaven, and*^s;, , ^ :,igtives
believe, float in aromatic air. , O u b i abounds in c lo v e ^ ,^ d the Dutch
have, a fmall fort’ on the weft fide; but the inhabitants are,chiefly
fugitive flaves from Ternat.. *' - - ... p--- _ ,
B i t the moft celebrated and important iflapds of. tbis^group ^tiil re-
mmn to bo deferibed. The M o lu c ca s , . ftridly- ,fo .called, | | ^ h e
weftera extremity; and A m b o y n a and B a n i ?a in.thn fputhfe .The
little, or proper Moluccas* as already mentioned, are T e r n a t , T id o r e ,
Mo t ir , Makian, and'Batchian*. It would appear from Jig^fettas
account of the expedition of Magalhaens, that the Mahometap^ttle-
ments in thefe iflands only took place about half a century feefore^his
time. In 1510 they were vifited by Portuguefe navigators from the
weft: and the fame of the difeoyery was one of the chief inducements
' to the firift circumnavigation of the Spaniards, conduced by.Magalhaens‘
a Portuguefe commodore. Thefe two great maritime nations
afterwards Contefted this precious property: but the; Mdlh^ciS'- 'tyeie
-finally refigned to the Portuguefe, who were fupplanted by the Dutch
about the year 1607. The Englifh alfo claiming this opulent commerce
a treaty
1 treaty, was f i g r t e t i in 1 6 1 9 , declaring the Moluccas,:: Amboyna, and Mo lucca
Banda common to both ; the-Englifti to have one third of the produce,. ?R0PER'
arid the Dutch - two '; 'feadh ■ conttib'Btlng'/a fimilar proportion to defend
the iflands from invaders;110 But in the fhort courfe ;of three years “ the
Dutch, adtvMe’d by their infatiable avarice, determined, by the" moft
diabolical tndatls,' to1 free th emfeiv’esftotn alhcohipetiters. * They forged
s;’ p t t o f the BhgH(h'%g&mw’?t'heir 'liveg'and'liberties; but fuch a plot
th& itieotsleaf« have beep fuppofed- to "have projected. The
bhaTge was,- that-fen fatiors, a-nd eleven- -fibiteigHi foidihrs were’to feize on
tft^caftle garrifoned by two hundred men.1 A fanlifh queftion afked by
ah radian foldier,'-as to thfe ftrerigth ©if the piaed, wajs the foundation o f
thd!‘?tragedy. He was feized and' phtht© ^h-C moft hixquiftte- tojturesfhat ■
heh* kfelf'-toukl invent; and in -his agonies'iahfwe'red'th-Scartful interrogatories
in the manner-theTifcal eould wiih. ■ iOur countrymen
and the eleven - foreign,’ foldiers underwent the fame horrid - torments,
which were continued attinterval-s"during eight.rdays..^ The means are
too dreadful for the humane pen to feeiie, o r the -humane ear to. bear»
The conftancy o f the poor fufferers was often eyviercome; they made
foehanfwers as they thought would fooneft free themfoohi the rack,
and wWch they recanted as foon as the torture; Ceafed.\They were then ;
recalled to their torments. At length the? ;recordof exafonatioriwas
read,! and the greater part were relieved by a fpeedy-execution : -;t>h#>fe
who were reprieved could drag but a miserable, life with mangled -bodies
or diflocated limbs. The fufferers, before-death, were confronted with
each other, Englifh with Indians ? both bewailed their infirmityfor ac-
cufiag the other under tbs preffuso ©f- torture, and mutually-exchanged
forgivenefe. A fufli /aceouni fe . given ,of this horrid tranfaiftiora rW, the
ingenious Campbel, in his cohesion, of travels: we could well excufe
hi§ fpeaking to our .eyes by a moft .horrible print. The foreign, fpldiers,
from good authority, be. fiappofes' ,to have been Koreans, an* adventurous
naval people even in that early time»
* The clove is faid to have abounded particukirly in Makian, but the
growth was afterwards confined by the Dutch to Amboyna. The nut-
meg. Specially fjaurifheddn the group of Banda: -and. the Romans ap-
38 Rymer’s Folder», xvii.: 17c. . “ Pennant’s Outlines, iv. 168.
3 N;? pear